PBA :: Progress :: Summer2007 :: Letter from the Leadership
Letter from the Leadership
The industry landscape continues to shift with the most recent round of acquisitions: L´Oreal acquiring Pureology, Belson being sold to Helen of Troy, and the many other rumored acquisitions, mergers and business deals out there. We are in a life size game of chess. Who does this affect? Everyone from manufacturers, distributors and reps to salon owners, individual stylists and trade publications.
L´Oreal acquiring Pureology, Belson being sold to Helen of Troy, and the many other rumored acquisitions, mergers and business deals out there
The environment of the professional beauty industry is constantly changing. If you are going to continue to do business in this industry, you will need to learn to adapt to change. One way to do this is to put strategic planning in motion for your company or salon. When looking at implementing or revising a strategic plan, think about how technology might affect your strategies and goals for making the correct moves on the chess board.
L´OREAL USA ACQUIRES
BEAUTY ALLIANCE, L.L.C.
April 12 - L´Oreal USA, Inc., a subsidiary of L´Oreal S.A., the world's largest beauty company, has acquired 100% of Beauty Alliance L.L.C., in which it had taken a 30% minority interest last July.
Beauty Alliance is one of the largest and fastest growing professional salon distributorships in the U.S. selling to 125,000 salons through 870 Distributor Sales Consultants and through 400 professional outlets. Beauty Alliance, a privately-held company headquartered in Clearwater, Florida, will operate as a separate unit within L´Oreal's Professional Products Division.
View the full release at www.loreal-finance.com.
HELEN OF TROY LIMITED ANNOUNCES ACQUISITION OF BELSON PRODUCTS
May 7 - Helen of Troy Limited, designer, developer and worldwide marketer of brand-name personal care and household consumer products, today announced the acquisition of Belson Products, the professional salon division of Applica Consumer Products, Inc.
Belson Products is one of the largest domestic suppliers of personal care products to the professional salon industry. Belson Products markets its professional products to major beauty suppliers and other major distributors under a variety of brand names, including Belson®, Belson Pro®, Gold ´N Hot®, Curlmaster®, Premiere® Profiles®, Comare®, Mega Hot®, and Shear Technology®.
View the full release at www.hotus.com.
L´OREAL USA ACQUIRES
PUREOLOGY RESEARCH LLC
May 9 - L´Oreal, the world's largest beauty company, announced that it has acquired, through its subsidiary L´Oreal USA, PureOlogy Research LLC, a luxury American brand sold through hairdressers in the professional haircare market.
Based in Irvine, California, the company was founded by the American hairdresser Jim Markham. PureOlogy is a luxury brand of high performance haircare products uniquely developed for hair colorists to use and recommend to their clients. The brand is notable for its range of highly concentrated sulfate free shampoos with AntiFade Complex™.
View the full release at www.loreal-finance.com.
Technology resources continue to improve the efficiency in how we run our operations. Streamlined communication helps to control data overload. Paper has not gone away; it has just been supplemented with a variety of forms of digital access to information: email, Palm Pilots, Blackberries, cell phones, DSL, broadband, Bluetooth… The list could go on and on! These are good things, yet while it is important to take technological resources into consideration during strategic planning, it is just as important to make sure there is a plan to not lose the human touch in doing business.
To continue with the concept of maintaining a personal touch, let me call your attention to the annual City of Hope Dinner. City of Hope, an organization dedicated to the prevention and cure of cancer and other life-threatening diseases, will honor our PBA Chair, John Heffner, with their annual Spirit of Life award during Cosmoprof North America on July 16, 2007. Please support this well-deserved tribute and most worthy charity, and help our industry shine. (More information)
Continue to plan the moves you will make to make sure that your business has a strategic plan that will adapt to the changing world that we are living in. Remember that you can take a journey around the world with small steps–;you just need to keep taking them in the right direction.
Lee Rizzuto Jr.
President, PBA Manufacturer
Leadership Council
Conair Corporation
Stamford, CT
